Fox announced this week that it will launch a new 24-hour cable sports network, a direct challenge to ESPN. Sports programming is one of the main reasons many people pay big monthly fees to cable and satellite companies, even those who aren't sports fans.

A federal jury on Thursday found sports programmer ESPN liable for only one breach-of-contract claim made by Dish Network Corp and awarded Dish $4.86 million, a mere fraction of the more than $152 million it had sought.

Disney won over more fans on Wall Street with its latest quarterly performance, despite a slight drop in its earnings. Disney digested higher programming costs at its ESPN television network and dealt with a less appealing line-up of home video releases in its movie studio.

Among the things sure to help shape the week ahead on Wall Street, Visa will tell us whether we've been choosing plastic over paper; Disney will tell us how much magic it has in its financials; and Panera and Chipotle will serve up their quarterly results.

The New York Yankees are a money-making machine and on Tuesday, the company's television subsidiary cashed in. The YES Network is selling 49 percent of its business in a deal that values the network at $3 billion. And the numbers get even bigger from there.

This week on Wall Street, everyone will be watching Netflix; mutual funds will talk assets under management; we'll see earnings from some stock freshmen; NFL teams will pick their own fresh stock; and a few companies are likely to issue deja vu quarterly reports.

Comcast just signed a major new deal with Disney that will give subscribers to the country's largest cable provider access to a ton of content across a range of devices -- not just TVs. Of course, those customers are sure to end up paying for it in higher cable bills.

The Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that it reached a long-term agreement with the nation's largest TV signal provider, Comcast Corp., that extends their partnership into the next decade. The deal covers major pay channels ESPN, Disney Channel and ABC Family and the retransmission of free ABC broadcast network programs through seven ABC TV stations. It allows Comcast subscribers to gain greater access to shows on demand over the Internet on multiple devices.

The next time you find yourself bellyaching over your expanding monthly cable bill, don't blame your provider. Blame ESPN, the biggest offender when it comes to basic cable, setting distributors back $4.69 a month for every subscriber.

After months of bitter negotiations, NBA owners and players finally agreed to terms, and a pro basketball season will start on Christmas Day. So who besides players, owners and fans will benefit? Let's start with stockholders in these companies.

Disney is considering lending some of the keys to its television kingdom to Yahoo for its Yahoo Connected TV. If Yahoo is successful in inking such a deal, it would bolster its Internet TV efforts and put on better footing to compete against rival products such as Google TV and Apple TV.

Profit fell 6.7% in Disney's fourth fiscal quarter. The company saw lower revenues from its theme parks and cruise line, and changed the way it booked revenue at ESPN. Movie revenues, though, were a bright spot.

The NFL's TV ratings are stronger than ever, but it's facing its third straight year of declining season ticket sales. With the economy still sputtering, and real prices for tickets soaring, teams are struggling to attract fans to watch America's most popular pro sport in person.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) is discussing a deal to buy Playdom Inc for over $500 million in a bid to increase its presence in social network games.
Disney wants to use Playdom to incorporate some of its iconic brands and characters into social network gaming, The Wall Street Journal said without naming its sources.

Plenty of observers were appalled by ESPN's hour-long special dedicated to James's announcement that he was going to the Miami Heat. But Don Ohlmeyer, the sports network's in-house referee on journalistic matters, is outraged.

ESPN's controversial special featuring basketball superstar LeBron James revealing where he would play next season garnered an overnight Nielsen rating of 7.3, according to the Walt Disney-owned cable channel.

More Americans are cramming into bars to watch the World Cup soccer tournament. ESPN and ABC say that the number of viewers for the first five games are double what they were in 2006. All this could be a sign that America is finally taking to a sport long played mostly by our youth.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has officially joined the Big Ten, the oldest NCAA Division I conference, in existence since 1896. The football powerhouse had been part of the Big 12 Conference since its inception in 1994. However, rumors of the Big 12 splitting up have been circulating in the last few years, with Nebraska the first team to actually leave.